Re: True or False?


"sittingduck" wrote:

Ron Shepard wrote:

I assume you want to compare the draw results with and without the
wrist snap. If so, what are you keeping constant in the two shots?
The tip-ball contact point? The stick speed? Both? Neither?

Isn't the whole idea of a wrist snap to get more stick speed?


Agree with both. Additionally, since the intent of using the wrist snap is
to make CB contact at or very near the end of the snap, this slightly
depresses cue angle (raises the back of the cue as the grip hand is going
upward at CB contact, and NOT directly toward the CB, at the end of the
snap), thereby slightly lowering the actual tip contact point on the CB.

Lower contact point = more back-spin (if there's no miscue)

I think Ron and the 'duck are getting at this: If you employ a piston
straight stroke directly to the contact point you would have realized as a
result of a wrist snap, identical results will be achieved if the cue speeds
at CB contact in both instances is equal.

This being said, the wrist snap is UNNECESSARY! -- the same results can be
more consistently achieved by disciplining one's self to good PSR and stroke
mechanics; especially a dead straight and as level as possible stroke at the
proper contact point on the CB. I have also found that a light grip and
deliberate stroke, rather than a tight grip and power stroke, produce far
better, more consistent, more controlled and more duplicatable (new word?)
results.

However, I must confess that I habitually, comfortably and consistently
employ the wrist snap. I have a LOT of bad habits -- BUT, I never had any
competent instruction, had to learn everything on my own and have been
playing for 54+ years. I have at times tried to correct these bad habits.
I have had some success on a few, but most are so second nature to me that
attempting to correct them destroyed any pretense I had of shooting an
effective game of pool. That is to say, my style sucks, but I consistently
get away with it.

In spite of this, when I teach students how to draw, I teach the DIRECT
STROKE, and NOT the wrist snap! I am fully capable of properly and
consistently drawing a ball with the direct stroke, and I feel, for
simplicity and repeatability of mechanics, this is what students need to
learn -- and NOT my old bad habits ... ;->.

Mike Collier
Oak Harbor, WA

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: True or False?
    ... Isn't the whole idea of a wrist snap to get more stick speed? ... identical results will be achieved if the cue speeds ... more consistently achieved by disciplining one's self to good PSR and stroke ... better, more consistent, more controlled and more duplicatable ...
    (rec.sport.billiard)
  • Re: True or False?
    ... amount of draw I needed on some shots. ... I put the wrist snap (doesn't ... have to be a major amount) back into my stroke and walla, ... is really just changing how tight you grip the butt. ...
    (rec.sport.billiard)
  • Re: True or False?
    ... if a wrist snap does anything useful. ... pause in his back stroke, while Allison Fisher has a major pause in her ... Other players just do it naturally. ...
    (rec.sport.billiard)
  • Re: True or False?
    ... Maybe there's a disconnect between the term we're using "wrist snap" and what at least I think most of us on this particular bench are trying to articulate: more of a loose, relaxed grip and wrist, which allows a flowing movement and acceleration of the wrist during the stroke. ... Sure, some good players play with all kinds of bad technique, but many of the very best players play with very good technique too. ...
    (rec.sport.billiard)